Ladies, November is here, and things do not feel any less crazy than the last time we spoke. I had this editorial all written. I wrote about all the ways I have seen the community come together. This issue is full of positive stories of how this community has pulled together as a healthy community. The articles in this issue are genuinely impressive. [in this issue] 06 Editor’s Note 08 Training Your Brain 20 Foodie Forum 23 Rays of Grace [ in every issue ] Editor’s Note – News from Jen Theisen Energize – Feed My People On the Scene …

Big Bloody Mary Batch INGREDIENTS 4 cups V8 Juice 4 cups Tomato Juice 1/2 cup Lemon Juice 2 cups Vodka 2 tsp Ground Black Pepper 1 tsp Celery Salt 2 tbsp Worchestershire Sauce 1 tsp Tabasco or to taste Salt rim with equal parts celery salt and salt. Garnish with your favorites Apple Pie Monkey Bread Ingredients: 3½ cup All Purpose Flour 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar ½ tsp Salt 2¼ tsp Instant Active Dry Yeast ½ cup Whole Milk ½ cup Water 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter 1 Egg Apple Pie Filling: 3 Granny Smith Apples, Chopped 1½ tsp Cinnamon ½ …

I just finished taking my Fall midterms.  By the time I return home for Christmas break, I’ll only have one semester of college remaining. The thought makes me think back to my freshman year. It was a struggle back then, to say the least.  I missed Wisconsin, and even more, I missed the people who made Wisconsin my home. I still think about a conversation I had with my dad back then.  He reminded me to “Hang in there,” “Take it one semester at a time,” and that by the time I made it home for Christmas break, I would …

Ladies, November is here, and things do not feel any less crazy than the last time we spoke. I had this editorial all written. I wrote about all the ways I have seen the community come together. This issue is full of positive stories of how this community has pulled together as a healthy community. The articles in this issue are genuinely impressive. Nevertheless, my first draft wasn’t authentic. I was born and raised in the Chippewa Valley, moved away for college and work, but have now been back for over 22 years. The Chippewa Valley is my home and …

Training Your Brain To Adopt Healthy Habits Would you rather have a doctor say to you “Take your medicine and things should get better” — or have a doctor sit down with you and explain why you need it?  Most of us would prefer the latter.  In the next few hundred words, I will do my best to explain to you how your brain works and how you can actually develop healthier behaviors. I would like to reference Trifton, Gordon, and Mirsa– the authors of “Training Your Brain To Adopt Healthful Habits: Mastering The Five Brain Challenges (2019). A lot …

Hello, my beautiful readers. It has been a long minute since we have all been together. I have, however, seen you courageous mamas. I have seen you taking care of your babies of all ages. I have watched you navigate working from home and traverse our daily changing new world. I have looked into your scared eyes at grocery stores. I have watched you take care of your parents and say your last goodbye to your family. I have watched you take action on social injustice and help your community in ways that have indeed been remarkable. The world and …

Standing Strong Together By: Jack Tice Ashley Peggs shares her courageous story and the community that rallied around her. Recently, one of Ashley Peggs’ four daughters had a question. “Mommy,” the young girl asked, “When was the best day of your life?” Ashley Peggs is a young woman, a mother, a family-oriented person. She’s a teacher—first in a classroom where she taught second graders, and also at home, where she embraced a teaching role as a stay-at-home mom. Further, she is a teacher in the community, where she has worked at learning centers and where she educates through her blog, Parenting …

Self-Care AGREE-ment During the Pandemic By Natalie Hanson I remember being nine (plus) months pregnant when my mom came to visit us in our small home in Salt Lake City. It was a scorching late-summer day in the mountain desert, when my overdue baby and I were outside trying to work a floral miracle in my tiny backyard. I was trying to resuscitate all of my wilting flowers that had surrendered for the season (for what mother worth her salt could bring a baby into the world when she couldn’t even keep her geraniums happy?). I was hot, frustrated at …

Hello, my beautiful readers. It has been a long minute since we have all been together. I have, however, seen you courageous mamas. I have seen you taking care of your babies of all ages. I have watched you navigate working from home and traverse our daily changing new world. I have looked into your scared eyes at grocery stores. I have watched you take care of your parents and say your last goodbye to your family. I have watched you take action on social injustice and help your community in ways that have indeed been remarkable. The world and …

The past six months have felt like years. So much has changed.  Covid has caused division and left us out of normalcy.  And then there was the George Floyd incident followed by riots.  And through it all, I feel like our nation has never been so divided. Admittedly, it is with hesitancy that I share this story. I am a white kid, from Eau Claire, Wisconsin and honestly cannot think of one instance that I have been discriminated against in my life. I realize that I will never be able to understand what it is like to be a black …